Genesis - I Can't Dance

Description

"I Can't Dance" is the fourth track from the Genesis album We Can't Dance and was the second single from the album ("No Son of Mine" being the first). The song peaked at number seven on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.

During one recording session, Mike Rutherford first created the main riff of the song he called "Heavy A Flat", to which Phil Collins suddenly improvised "I Can't Dance!" Originally the band did not think of it as anything more than a joke, because the song was too simple, too bluesy and completely unlike Genesis' style. Tony Banks said in an interview "It was one of those bits you thought was going to go nowhere. It sounded fun, but wasn't really special".

It was not until Banks added the keyboard sound effects that the song took on a whole different feeling—with a slight edge of humour in it—which made the band decide to record it.

Banks also said in an interview that it showed a kind of direction Genesis could have gone in. Opposite to what Genesis used to do in the past, taking an idea and turning it into a long or complex composition (vs. instead just taking an idea, and leaving it alone).